Spider
Anne was staring into the dark pools of the creature before her. Her whole body had gone rigid, she couldn’t move – what if it leapt at her? A shudder ran along her spine but still she couldn’t move. A yell was stuck in her throat, it was completely silent. So, this was how it all were to end, Anne Lister defeated at last - killed by a vicious creature that had crept inside her home unseen. The creature moved unexpectantly and the legs tapped on the floor as its many legs were in movement. Anne couldn’t take her eyes of it, she was sweating, she was to be honest - terrified. The creature wanted her dead – there was no doubting it. It made to move towards her and as it neared her; Anne finally sprang into action, she ran out of the room, slamming the door in the face of her enemy but she didn’t throw a look over her shoulder to make sure it was properly closed instead she ran down the stairs or more like leapt down them – taking four-five steps at a time. Out of breath from her sheer panic as she ran into her sister at the bottom of the stairs,
“You must never open the door to the small library upstairs again!” Anne panted, and Marian raised an eyebrow,
“And why ever not?”
“Because I said so.” Anne barked, she was not about to tell her sister of the murderous creature that were inside – Marian would surely then go upstairs and open the door to see if it were true and manage to release the beast from its prison.
“Have anyone ever told you that you’re a quite the oddity?” Marian asked and Anne glared at her,
“You think you can hurt me with that?! Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!”
“Throw a dictionary in her face!” Aunt Anne cried from the sitting room, Anne rolled her eyes,
“Ha ha, very funny.”
“Actually, I might do it.”
“Break my nose again – like mother did?” Anne raised an eyebrow and Marian became a little green,
“Urgh, don’t talk about that, it was awful!”
“Feeling guilty because you ratted me out all those times?” Anne asked, hands on hips,
“I didn’t realise… I wan-… It was stupid, Anne – and I’m truly sorry - I have told you.” Marian looked sorry enough but Anne was much more occupied with the thought of the vicious creature upstairs.
“Mm, right… good. Um, anyway – don’t open that door.” Anne told Marian and her sister raised her eyebrows at her, staring at her,
“I won’t give an explanation, Marian – it’s my estate – just do as I say. For once.”
“Yes, you never tire of pointing that out.”
“This obsession, Marian you have of the whole thing- is unhealthy.”
“Girls, stop fighting.” Aunt Anne stumbled up to them, and Anne took hold of her arm to steady her.
“We weren’t.”
“You are good at many things Anne but lying to me – try harder.”
“I don’t want to lie to you. Never could - never will.” Anne smiled and her aunt patted her hand softly,
“Will you help me upstairs, to bed dear?”
“Of course, Aunt.” Anne replied and then proceeded to help her aunt with that.
When Anne had tucked her aunt in, she bent down to place an affectionate kiss on her forehead,
“Good night, Aunt. “
Aunt Anne took hold of her arm,
“Anne.”
“Yes?” Anne turned her head back and sat down on the side of the bed.
“Do you remember when you first came to us? To live with us I mean.”
“How could I forget?”
“Is it hard, I mean do you find me a mere shell of who I used to be? Do you wish it had been me and not your uncle who had gone first?” Aunt Anne asked her, clearly with some apprehension, and Anne shook her head slowly, tears burning behind her eyes – she was terrified of losing her aunt.
“It’s challenging to see the pain you’re in, Aunt. But you are still you. You, taking me in under your wings like that – I was difficult – am difficult and you loved me despite all my flaws. You loved me when no one else would, you and my uncle. Me being away – travelling, has nothing to do with you and everything to do with my own disappointments that I wish not to link to Shibden because Shibden… it’s my happy place – it’s my home. You made it my home from the start – I never felt at home in Market Weighton. And I am appalled that you should think that I see you as some sort of nuisance, Aunt. I love you – and through it all, you and my uncle, bless his soul, you were both my heroes. If I am even a fraction of what you were and are to me – I shall be very well pleased. I did not wish for you to die before Uncle James, I clung to the hope that you would both die at the very ripe age of a hundred and ten.”
Tears were running down both women’s cheeks and aunt Anne kissed her nieces’ hand, as a mother does her child.
“I’m sorry, it’s just – old age makes you sentimental, makes you wonder.”
“It’s alright, aunt. I’m happy to bring you comfort and tell you that I love you.” Anne smiled and her aunt squeezed her hand,
“And for the record, me and your uncle didn’t love you despite all your flaws – we loved you because of them and because of who you are!”
Anne’s heart tugged in her chest at that, and tears ran rapidly over her cheeks, the monster quite forgotten for now.
“Do you know just how many times I dreamt that you were my real mother? And I often saw Uncle James as more of a father figure than father. Hm, despite you being, you know sister and brother? I used to pray it were so, that God would take me back to you.”
“He did. He brought you to us and we loved you, had loved you from the very start – from the first time we saw you, as our very own.”
Anne embraced her Aunt, and they kissed each other’s cheeks and laughed. Anne glanced at her Aunt, about to confide something in her,
“Do you know, I still find myself looking for him in his study. Every time I’m in there, it feels as though, at any moment, my uncle will come inside to sit with me. I cannot believe it has already been six years since he passed.”
“I still find myself looking for him at times. Thinking ‘Oh I must tell James that’ and so on, I don’t think I will ever stop. Time doesn’t always mend the wounds – but you can live with them, if you cherish the memories.” Aunt Anne revealed and Anne smiled sadly, it was truly heart-breaking.
“He was a great man, he taught me everything he could, and he gave me all the opportunities I wanted that were his to give. He took me to Paris…”
“He loved you as his own – he wanted you to feel loved. The only time I ever saw my brother cry was the times when he thought they abused you – and the night you came to us – after I told him of all the scars on your back – he vowed to never let you back there again. He loved you very much. He was always excited when you came to stay. And when you came to live with us permanently, he re-wrote his will the following days.” Aunt Anne told her, and Anne was stunned to hear that – she had always thought that was something he had done at a much later date – when her brothers had passed, and he knew her father wouldn’t be able to run the estate by himself.
“Did he? I always thought he did that as a last resort- since he must have known I would never…”
“No, he did it just then. He didn’t care about that. Actually, I think he was rather relieved and pleased that he could be sure the estate wouldn’t fall to some random man he had no connection with. He was always proud of you for going your own way– do you remember when he came home with his knuckles bruised?”
“He did know, I just didn’t think he really accepted that. Yes, I remember – they were almost black. He said he had had an accident.”
“Well, he was down the pub at Mytholm and there was Mr. Rawson and Mr. Robertson – the elder both of them and they made a lude comment about you. They insulted you to your uncle. Apparently, they were drunk beyond measure. He was of a mind to ignore them but then they had said something about you being ‘Queer’ and… uh anyway he lost it and proceeded to beat the devil out of them… literally. You should have seen the state of them – black, blue and purple – they couldn’t show themselves out for weeks. Their noses were never the same I think.”
“He beat them up to defend my honour?” Anne wondered; the tiniest bit amused at the image of the two men after her uncle had beaten some sense into them.
“Hm. Your uncle was a good man, a wise man – I think he would have happily approved of your… of Ann as your possible companion. She is just the right sort of person for you.” Aunt Anne told her, rubbing the tears away on her niece’s cheeks. Anne exhaled, and leant into the palm of her aunt’s hand,
“I think I might have been blessed with two of the greatest humans in the world. Thank you, Aunt!”
“Yes, yes - now off to bed you pop!”
“I’m not five.” Anne smiled, and her aunt gave her a sharp look,
“Fine, goodnight.” Anne kissed her aunt’s cheek again before standing up and leaving her room. Anne went inside her own room to ready for bed when she saw it – a companion to the vicious creature she had shut in. Her scream caught in her throat and she backed out of her own room, sweat forming on her back, and around her neck. She closed the door shuddering before running down the stairs.
“I’m off.” Anne told Mrs. Cordingley who were just about to lock up the house,
“Ma’am?”
Anne didn’t answer her but exited the house and with large strides ran off into the dark. It felt as though something was walking across her body and she ran faster – it was after her – she was certain – she daren’t stop anyway.
Soon enough she saw light and realised she had run all the way to Crow Nest. Anne thought for a second but decided that she’d rather be impolite than give herself to the hands of the creature. She knocked on the door, and James opened,
“Good morn… um, night, James – is Miss Walker up?”
“Yes, ma’am she’s in the…”
“James, who is it?” Ann’s voice called and then suddenly she was in the doorframe and Anne threw her a white nervous smile,
“Anne!?” She cried stunned, and James were dismissed so they were alone,
“Um, this is a bit awkward, but you wouldn’t want to have some tea and then perhaps I could stay all night?” Anne breathed heavily from her run and Ann looked completely astonished but then she smiled at the brunette’s dishevelled appearance and she could barely contain a laugh as she quirked an eyebrow at her,
“Is there a spider in your room, again?”
“They have like three hundred legs, I have two! How am I supposed to survive!!?” Anne cried exasperated and Ann burst out laughing, bending in half – tears running down her cheeks, Anne was not amused.
“You are hilarious!” Ann laughed but pulled the brunette with her inside,
“I’m glad you find my mortal peril a hoot.”
“Oh yes I do! Come on in, I’ll ask for fresh tea.”
The morning after Anne and Ann walked to Shibden, they were really headed out for a walk to the chaumiére, but Anne needed to collect something at home first. When they came inside Aunt Anne greeted them in the hallway,
“Anne! Marian wants to speak to you in her study.”
“Marian, doesn’t have a study.”
“Eh, you recall that room you closed off yesterday because of the ‘vicious creature’ in it?”
“She opened hell’s gate!?” Anne cried and both Aunt Anne and Ann laughed at her.
“Why are you so overdramatic?” Marian told her after she had been yelled at for ten minutes about how they could’ve all died because she had opened the room with the spider in it.
“Because I have deep-seated emotional issues from our mother and then Mariana being a jerk at such a young age and now, I cover it up by acting more flamboyant and overdramatic, so I don’t have to deal with my emotional issues and repressed trust and abandonment issues.” Anne ranted and Marian raised a confused eyebrow as she had heard almost nothing of that fast rant,
“What?”
“What.” Anne threw back.